SNAKES CLOSE GOODWILL STORE. Actual newspaper headline.
Started taking painting classes. Landscapes mostly and right away I developed a unique emotive style.
Nothing much new writing-wise, so something from a time I had older relatives.
Really happy with my brush work.
Cowabunga! Greetings from Spring Break. 1994.
I can tell you everything you need to know about Miami in two words: kosher fajitas.
Visiting Boca Raton, literally “Mouth of The Rat.” Things are different here. I wonder sometimes why we all don’t live in Florida. Try to find a parking space at the beach during Season, it seems we all do. But, for dog’s sake, don’t go in the water. Man of war, riptides, sea lice, schools of black-finned sharks reported this week.
Florida – State Motto: “Connect The Liver Spots” – is by nature basically unfit for human habitation, especially foreign tourists. The State Game & Fresh Water Fish Commission issues 7,000 permits annually to licensed trappers to destroy gators who have become a nuisance. “They’re lightning quick,” says one expert, and he doesn’t mean the trappers. “No other animals or human beings can outrun them in an ambush-type or frontal charge. They have the largest brain of all living reptiles.”
Which is like saying somebody has the biggest heart of all federal prosecutors. Apparently there are smarter dead reptiles.
Adds the education director of the local Wildlife Center, “Alligators can’t distinguish between food and small children or small pets. Whenever you’re in an area with alligators, always look around you. Be aware of your surroundings.”
Advice like that is why she’s paid the big bucks.
How big are the insects here? This from The News. “A Boca Raton woman called police Thursday night after she spotted a large spider in her den. Police responded to the woman’s Northest 20th Street apartment, located the spider and killed it, reports said.”
The Exotic Pest Plant Council has given Lather Leaf, a.k.a., “The Hawaiian Strangler”, a Category 1 ranking on the most unwanted list. The aggressive shrub, which suffocates domestic flora, joins some 30 other Killer Bushes From Other Countries, like the dreaded Brazilian Pepper and Australian Pine.
Took a chance anyway. Went into a field and picked my own strawberries day before Easter.
Every day here is like the best day in the middle of August. First day of Spring the mercury reached 89 degrees. Last night’s low was 77. Jasmine in bloom. Gardenia and hibiscus, too.
A local school board may fire an elementary music teacher, probably a percussionist, for carrying a loaded .357 Magnum with his lesson plans.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are so busy arguing over two bills, one which will okay chemical castration and another which will prohibit public nudity, they can’t agree on the state’s annual budget.
Went out to dinner the other night, with my aunt and uncle. The taut, nuble, young waitress took one look at me and charged me the senior citizen rate. Remind me to dye my moustache.
My aunt, officially 35% disabled and half the rest of the time not feeling well, works four days a week, then comes home and does housework until she drops. She just turned down a promotion, her own office with her name on the door, if she’d work Fridays, too. My uncle, retired after 28 years at IBM, took a part-time job in the produce department of the local grocery where he puts in 40 hours weekly, including nights and weekends. My cousin attends the local university, reasonably full-time, then works five nights a week as a waiter.
Saturday mornings, my uncle and cousin clean a doctor’s office for extra cash. I set the table before dinner, clear it afterwards, end of chores.
Have I mentioned I come from humble, hard-working stock…. Feels palpably uncomfortable to sit on my butt when these folks toil so. So, I try to sweat more as I write, which is no problem, the way my novel’s NOT coming along. I did apply for a job as Associate Editor for a prestigious yachting magazine.
What’s yachting?
Except for the infrequent highway overpass, there are no hills within a twenty mile radius. I ran for an hour a couple of times on bike paths before discovering a wonderful park. The park includes three manicured soccer fields where I can run on grass.
So, 38 minutes into my first grass run, my left calf – for no good reason – blew out. Bummer. Lost my fine treadmill edge. Which didn’t seem to carry over much anyway.
Yesterday I managed 32 minutes on grass. God, it’s hot. So, I embark upon Comeback #769.
Other people keep track of their mileage….